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Bharti Airtel plans stake sale in satellite TV arm

Bharti Airtel Ltd is looking to sell up to a quarter of its satellite TV services arm and is in talks with several potential suitors, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Bharti Airtel, India's top telecommunications carrier, is looking at a valuation of little over $1 billion for the unit that had 7.9 million digital television customers as of December, one of the sources said.

United States-based Liberty Global Inc and a couple of private equity investors are among companies Bharti Airtel is in talks with for a potential stake sale, said the other source, declining to elaborate.

Both the sources declined to be named as the plan is not public yet. Bharti and Liberty Global declined to comment.

Direct-to-home television broadcast services in India have been gaining momentum due to growing spending power in Asia's third-largest economy and also helped by a government move to digitise the cable network.